Dismal Murray falls to Chardy

Matches like this leave me so disappointed. Watching Andy play yesterday and during the Olympics gave me hope that he was perhaps heading towards a set of matches where he came out on top. His game, serve, forehand have been so much improved along with his confidence, it seemed as if he had stepped to a different level somehow. I'm left trying not to think this was an illusion, that he was 'having a bad day at the office' as is Andy's normal practice, that nothing has changed really despite the Olympic Gold. He works so hard and he's such a super guy I want him to achieve what he so richly deserves and matches like this one make me doubt whether he will do so. Sorry - not having a good day today either.

I don't think Andy did anything particularly wrong up until the point when he was broken for the first time. And in the 2nd set his serve went missing and he became panicked by that and Chardy's persistent aggression and lack of errors from it.

Yep. He was serving well, looking good, and had a couple of chances on Chardy's serve. Then he played that dreadful game and it all unravelled from there, despite multiple chances to get back into the match. The serve went completely awol in the 2nd set, at least until Chardy finally consolidated the break. And by then it was too late.

This bit sums it up well, "alternating between extreme passivity and reckless abandon. His opponent, on the other hand, played with a consistent measured aggression and capitalised on the plethora of unforced errors spraying from the Scot's racquet."

Think something wasnt right and this isnt based on watching Andy but the reaction of his team. Normally they will yell, jump up and down right to the last point. They showed several shots of them during that last set and at no point were they doing that, they looked resigned to a loss. What did they know?

Matches like this leave me so disappointed. Watching Andy play yesterday and during the Olympics gave me hope that he was perhaps heading towards a set of matches where he came out on top. His game, serve, forehand have been so much improved along with his confidence, it seemed as if he had stepped to a different level somehow. I'm left trying not to think this was an illusion, that he was 'having a bad day at the office' as is Andy's normal practice, that nothing has changed really despite the Olympic Gold. He works so hard and he's such a super guy I want him to achieve what he so richly deserves and matches like this one make me doubt whether he will do so. Sorry - not having a good day today either.

Yeh you're probably reading far too much into this. Andy would have liked to have won today and was bloody pissed at himself out there when he was playing bad shots, but his heart wasn't in it. It will be at USO.

Queens to wimbledon comprison is a good one as in the wimbeldon to Olympics comparison -- Andy can recover from dissappoinment well, and when his heart is truly into something he will give 100% and with that he can do amazing things.

It's only 11 days since Andy won his gold medal. I think this could be the result of coming off his Olympic high, something which must be very difficult to deal with psychologically and he's had a lot to deal with since then, including acclimatising and coping with a knee injury. I don't for a minute think Andy feels anything other than hugely disappointed, but to say he's gone back to the "old" Andy is ridciulous.

It's only 11 days since Andy won his gold medal. I think this could be the result of coming off his Olympic high, something which must be very difficult to deal with psychologically and he's had a lot to deal with since then, including acclimatising and coping with a knee injury. I don't for a minute think Andy feels anything other than hugely disappointed, but to say he's gone back to the "old" Andy is ridciulous.

I agree Aileen. And Tessie that's a v interesting point about the team. It does suggest that they all knew Andy wasn't feeling his usual self going into the match. One thing though there was no clutching of body parts which does suggest it wasn't a physical injury. Insofar as I could see under his cap I thought he had dark grey rings under his eyes so perhaps his sleep is still not right. He said in press conference clip they showed on Sky that he felt uncomfortable on court. Combination of heat, ball bouncing high and his own reaction to Olympics finally getting to him perhaps?

Here's the press conference transcript:ANDY MURRAYTHE MODERATOR: Questions, please.Q. Jeremy has had a lot of pretty good results last few weeks. He's been playing well. Do you think that match was more about that or you struggling today?ANDY MURRAY: It was probably a little bit of both. I didn't serve particularly well. You know, I got broken three times in the second set, which isn't good enough. You know, I broke him a couple of times in the second.I had a lot of close games on his serve in the first and second set and didn't convert enough chances, and, yeah, I didn't serve well enough.Q. Just a day where you just kind of didn't have it in you for the day or just a few points here or there?ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. Sometimes a few games can change matches. Had breakpoints in the first set. If I had maybe gone up there maybe I would have started to play better, but when I went behind he started serving better, and he was going for his shots.I was a little bit uncomfortable with those balls bouncing extremely high. It was fairly hard to control.Q. Was the court a factor at all, the fact you hadn't played out there?ANDY MURRAY: I played on that court a lot in the past, so, you know, I don't think that was the issue.Obviously something like my second or third match in the hard court. I played well yesterday; didn't play so well today.Hopefully after a few weeks you start to have a bit more consistency. I made quite a lot of mistakes early on in the rallies which normally I don't do. That's why it's disappointing.Q. I think this is only your third hard court match of the summer since the Olympics. Are you satisfied with how much US Open prep you have? Are you going to try to do anything extra now?ANDY MURRAY: No. I won't play any more matches. I mean, always when going into the big tournaments, sometimes I've won tournaments in the buildup and it hasn't helped me; this year Wimbledon I lost in the first round at Queen's and made the final there for the first time. I have won Queen's before and not done well at Wimbledon.So it doesn't normally have that much bearing. But, you know, obviously I would have liked to have done a bit better this week.Q. Do you go to New York straightaway then to work?ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, probably, yeah.FastScripts by ASAP Sports

But he never does say when he's feeling unwell as he doesn't like to use such things as an excuse. Often we don't find out until weeks later when illness or injury have caused a loss.

It sounds to me Ruthie that it's a combination of a lot of things rather than illness or injury, but the knee problem won't have helped. I must admit I could see this coming because Andy did not have time to settle after his Olympic win. I think his head is probably still all over the place. Hopefully in New York he will have that time.

As long as Andy picks things up for USO then the Cincy loss will be long forgotten. Chardy was up for it today, got a lucky net cord at 4-3 when Andy could have got break point and held nerve to close out the match - it happens.

With Rafa dropping out and Ferrer losing early, he is assured of staying at no.4 so going out early to prepare for NY may not be a bad thing. Federer and Delpo can grind each other out. I'd rather that Andy is fresh for 10 days time rather than previous occasions when he was spent like 09/10 resulting in early losses.

A fired up Andy will not allow today to happen at USO. Let's wait and see.

Imagine if Andy had won and gone on to beat Delpo, Nole and Fed, he would be knackered comes Sunday and then flying to New York will leave insufficient time to be fully prepared for the USO.

This way Andy gets a chance to reach NY by Friday/Saturday, spend a couple of days / a week working on various strokes (FHs, serve, ...) and time to relax and unwind and savour the Olympic Gold & Silver monumental achievements, and be fresh and fully ready for the USO. The poor guy hasn't had time to even put the medals in his trophy cabinet for God's sake and lack of sleep must be catching up. His head is probably still buzzing from the olympic matches and from team GB performance.

Based on what I saw at the Olympic SF & Final, I firmly believe that this website Gold medal will be adorned with a GS trophy within the next 12 months, possibly even at this USO.